Posted on 08/04/2006 10:44:15 AM PDT by lizol
Lithuania Pipe Dry, Belarus Gets Oil Supplies
By Andrei Makhovsky and Darius James Ross Reuters
MINSK -- Russia is keeping Belarus well supplied with crude oil even though it shares a pipeline with Lithuania, which Moscow has cut off, after citing a leak, officials in Belarus said Thursday.
Their comments may add to speculation that Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft used this weekend's minor leak as a pretext to cut flows to Lithuania as punishment for choosing a Polish buyer for its Mazeikiu refinery over Russian bidders.
Mazeikiu was bought in May by Poland's PKN Orlen.
Oil officials in Belarus said the Naftan refinery was receiving full volumes of Russian oil through a spur of the Druzhba pipeline that continues to Lithuania.
Lithuanian oil officials said Moscow had given no clear indication of when their supplies would resume. The Baltic state is looking at increasing seaborne imports to compensate.
Naftan and Lithuania's Mazeikiu refinery and Butinge oil terminal sit on the same pipeline that leaked over the weekend on Russian territory, long before reaching Belarus or Lithuania.
"We don't have any problems at all and are working as normal. We are getting full volumes of crude," a senior official at Belarus' Naftan oil refinery said.
A spokesman for state energy holding Belneftekhim, which controls Naftan, confirmed the situation. "Naftan is working as normal and will meet all its targets," he said.
Market players have said the Kremlin might want to punish Lithuania by cutting supplies as it had hoped the Mazeikiu refinery would be bought by state firms Rosneft or Gazprom.
The Kremlin used similar tactics several years ago when it completely stopped crude supplies to the Latvian port of Ventspils after saying Riga mistreated its Russian-speaking minority. Supplies to Ventspils have never resumed.
One of the two mid-size spurs of the giant Druzhba oil pipeline to Europe leaked over the weekend, causing a jump in oil prices amid confusion whether the damage affected only the spur or the entire network. Transneft said exports were not affected.
The Natural Resources Ministry said it had ordered Transneft to lower pressure in the pipeline. It said it could take up to a year to repair it or build a new one.
Oil traders said Transneft had told them to divert volumes from Lithuania to the Black Sea in August.
Mazeikiu and Butinge were supposed to receive around 1 million tons, or 250,000 barrels per day, in August, while Naftan is due to receive around 750,000 tons, mainly from Rosneft, LUKoil, Surgutneftegaz and Tatneft.
Paul Nelson English, general director at Mazeikiu Nafta, which controls the Mazeikiu refinery and the export terminal at Butinge, said oil was still not flowing and that he did not know when supplies might resume.
"We are preparing as if [the pipeline] may not return to operations over an extended period," he told reporters.
"We can import all the crude we need through the terminal to run the refinery," he said, adding that Mazeikiu's margins would decrease but the plant would not become loss-making.
Silly Russians. Cutting off oil supplies to Lithuania during the summer. Again.
Actualz verz smart. Thez won`t restart sending oil when winter comes.
Lesson learnt in Ukraine. Noone can accuse zou for not suplzing them with gas or oil, but can if zou cut them off...
I see that you are not aware of Russian tactics. This is standard short break (maximum few days), due to fake leak. They will not cut them off permanently like Ukraine cause they pay their bills and everybody in this business know that. This is perfect example how bad business partners the Russians are.
I am truly amazed.
Putin/Russia had the ***** to speak about blackmail regarding the Georgians?
This really outdoes anything I have read yet.
Spurn Russia and lose heat.
Oh and my guess is more likely this is the cause
See my post above.
Lately I have been reading old Soviet jokes and finding some of them to be quite applicable today.
We don't discuss histor very often, but I have let her discover what is factual on her own.
We don't discuss histor very often, but I have let her discover what is factual on her own.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.